Just like last couple of years

The NL West is now led by the streaking San Diego Padres and Arizona, as LA , who had been dueling for the lead is now in 3rd. LA's early hot streak, fueled by Kent's superhot hitting has cooled with his hitting. This is reminescent of last year's and the year before, as one team would take the lead with a hot start, then another team would get hot and come back to get into the lead (or tied for the lead).

The Giants stay 4 games behind in 4th place after losing the last two games of the Astro's series, a disappointment after winning the first two but ultimately what you shoot for on the road. They have been anywhere from 1 game under .500 to 1 game over .500 and is currently 18-19. They are visiting Colorado where hellish games occur regularly for the Giants. But they are throwing two lefties at the Giants and the Giants have a number of hitters who mash on lefties, like Feliz, Grissom, Niekro, Durham, Alou, and Alfonzo, the latter also being good hitters against righties as well, career-wise.

The Giants are throwing Lowry, Hennessey and Tomko at the Rockies. Lowry looked much better last game until the 7th and Hennessey has been good enough to win both his starts. Tomko has been up and down, pitching like we hope then following by pitching like we remember.

But as long as we can stay around .500 while waiting for our superstars to return (and play like superstars), I think the Giants should still be in the hunt for the title at the end of the season, like they have each year of Sabean's tenure as GM. Given the all out effort to win this year, I would not be surprised if there are trades made in the July-August timeframe to bolster our efforts, most probably in the bullpen area since they will probably dip into the minors if they need help in the starting rotation and the offense, while inconsistent - which is a result of the loss of hitters who could hit RHP pitching well, which we had last season - is still potentially potent even without Bonds.